Two Tankers Catch Fire After Collision Near Strait of Hormuz

Two tankers collided in waters off the United Arab Emirates and caught fire in the early hours of Tuesday, rattling global oil and shipping markets that have been closely monitoring navigation in the region since Israel began strikes on Iran late last week.

Vessels Adalynn and Front Eagle crashed about 24 nautical miles east of Khor Fakkan, in an incident apparently unrelated to the ongoing fighting. According to a social media post from UAE’s national guard, 24 crew members on board the Adalynn was rescued. It did not provide details of the other ship.

UK-based maritime security agency Vanguard Tech said in an alert seen by Bloomberg that “no foul play is suspected” at this point, with fires contained and crews reported safe.

News of a fire at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz caught the attention of shippers and oil traders in morning trading in Asia and the Middle East, sparking fear of a link to attacks between Israel and Iran. Ships traversing the waters in and around the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf have been on high alert due to a jump in jamming, a practice which scrambles navigation signals emitted by the hundreds of vessels.

Read more: Ship Signal Jamming in Persian Gulf Worsens as Conflict Widens

Since then, Vanguard Tech as well as Ambrey, another maritime security specialist, have said there is no sign of a link.

Front Eagle was affected by signal jamming on June 15 and 16 as it sailed past Assaluyeh, according to shiptracking data, but not close to the crash site.

“At the time of writing, we can only confirm that it is not a security incident. We continue to investigate the cause,” said Daniel Smith, an analyst at Ambrey, without providing further details.

Ambrey alerted ships to an incident categorized as “war risk/sighting” in the early hours of Tuesday. More than an hour later, it issued another notice to update shippers, this time categorizing the incident as “situational awareness/sighting”, according to people who received the message.

NASA satellite images also show the fires off the UAE’s coast.

The 23-year-old Adalynn sails under the Antigua and Barbuda flag with no known insurance, according to shiptracking data. The vessel has been frequently sighted plying the route between Russia’s Ust-Luga and India’s Vadinar, and appears to fit the profile of one that’s often used in the so-called “dark fleet”. Front Eagle is a 2020-built tanker sailing under the Liberian flag.

Emails sent to Oceanpack Ship Management, the listed owner of Adalynn went unanswered.

Frontline Plc said it was responding to a collision off Fujairah involving its tanker Front Eagle. “A full investigation will be carried out to determine the cause of the maritime incident. This is a navigational incident and not related to the current regional conflict,” the company said in a statement, adding all crew were reported safe.

Shiptracking data reviewed by Bloomberg shows the tankers were seen sailing near each other off the Gulf of Oman with their paths eventually crossing — a pattern which suggests a collision.

The waters off UAE’s Khor Fakkan and the nearby chokepoint of Strait of Hormuz are among the most congested in the world as they serve as a gateway to important crude oil and fuel suppliers within the Persian Gulf, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran and Abu Dhabi.

In mid 2024, a collision between a dark-fleet ship and a regular products tanker occurred in the congested waters off Singapore and Malaysia. The clandestine ship, known as Ceres I, was later sanctioned by the US in December.

Copyright 2025 Bloomberg.

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